Disease
by chibimalta
Summary: Sasori Akasuna is a well-known forensic pathologist from the C.D.C., who’s dating Deidara, a Special Agent from the F.B.I. When a disease breaks out in Konoha, they’re on the scene, trying to figure out who’s behind the outbreaks and why new diseases pop
1. Prologue: Theory

Summary: Sasori Akasuna is a well-known forensic pathologist from the C.D.C., who's dating Deidara, a Special Agent from the F.B.I. When a disease breaks out in Konoha, they're on the scene, trying to figure out who's behind the outbreaks and why new diseases pop up in different cities. Naruto-Cobra Event x-over. Slight AU. SasoDei. Yaoi.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, The Cobra Event, or any government-related stuff. Just the creator of the virus.

Prologue:

Theory

A woman in her mid-twenties clucked her tongue as she worked, standing over a table and wearing a biohazard suit. Her ash brown hair was tied up in a ponytail inside her Racal hood, which was protecting her from her own work. The air pressure in the room was negative due to HEPA filters- a standard procedure for a level 3+ hot zone. Her blue-green eyes flicked around as they watched what she was doing, being very careful not to mess up.

She knew she hadn't been trained for years for nothing. Now more than ever she needed her skills. Then, it had been for the sake of getting a paycheck. Now, it was because of a theory she had come up with. As she labored to create this disease, which was partially created by BioArk, a company based in Oto, partially created by her, she thought of everything she had given up. A well-paying job, her boyfriend- though he was going to back out when she told him she really worked for BioArk anyway, and mostly, if she got caught, a clean criminal record.

All this trouble just for a "stupid" little theory. The people at BioArk said she was crazy to go this far. Anyone else in the world would too. But she thought she was perfectly sane. That, and that her work was righted by her theory.

She believed the Black Death happened because it was nature's way of making sure a species' population didn't get too big. After the Black Death, the survivors entered a Renaissance. She figured the human race was due for another natural virus to keep the population in check. Sure, there was AIDS, but vaccines and work to find a cure were keeping it from doing its job. So she took it upon herself to mass-produce a virus that would kill off a good portion of the global population. There would be much suffering, and many would die, but she figured it was for the best.

Working away making her virus and listening to the hum of her Racal hood and stolen Biozan bioreactor, she thought about her theory. She worked it out in her head that these naturally-occurring viruses happened to all species. But since the humans had too much technology, a naturally-occurring virus couldn't do its job. Even though BioArk had different goals, hers had become clear about a year ago.


	2. Chapter 1: The Outbreak

Chapter 1:

The Outbreak

"Tell me the symptoms you're seeing with this," A red-head demanded as he looked into yet another patient's room from behind a window.

"When they first get it, it seems they just have your average cold. Then it seems to turn into a pitch of small pox. Finally, they die. When they do the autopsy, the brain seems to have exploded in the skull," A doctor replied.

"It's probably some genetically engineered disease. That's all it can be- there's no more naturally occurring smallpox out there that someone could catch. And even if someone did, they wouldn't have cold symptoms and their brain certainly wouldn't explode as you describe."

"So then what exactly is this disease?"

"Seems to be a combination of human rhino virus, some strain nuclear polyhedrosis virus, and Variola major. That's the minimum, without checking DNA."

"How can you tell?"

"First off, the symptoms of the cold and smallpox tell me there's human rhino virus and Variola major. The nuclear polyhedrosis virus is just a theory based on the brain exploding."

"So whoever did this has to be skilled in viruses?"

"Not necessarily. Any idiot could do it, with a manual, of course. But since there's no evidence that has been found yet, I'm assuming this person is skilled in viruses, or at least knows that police look for any and all forms of evidence."

"You know, for a forensic pathologist, you sure do know a lot."

"I've been at it for years."

"Didn't they ever promote you?"

"Would've, but I didn't wanna get promoted."

"Why not?"

"I like shocking people with my knowledge. Besides, I get all the benefits of a promotion without actually being promoted. Of course, they gotta update my I.D."

"You're one strange guy, Dr. Akasuna."

"I get that a lot." Dr. Akasuna focused on the patient in the room, who was now writhing from a seizure.

"Hey, Danna!" A blonde came jogging down the hallway towards Dr. Akasuna and the other doctor.

"You get anything?" Dr. Akasuna asked the blonde.

"Not much yet, but I took some samples un."

"Good enough. We'll set up a mini-lab and check it out."

"Where?"

"An abandoned warehouse or something."

"Alright. Guess that means we'll be working much too late……………un."

"If we aren't up to our necks in work, tomorrow koi." The other doctor made a face as the two talked.

"Come up with any theories Danna?" The blonde asked, changing the subject for the sake of the other doctor.

"Yeah. I think it's a combination of human rhino virus, nuclear polyhedrosis virus, and Variola major."

"Wow, that sounds pretty nasty un."

"It is. If nuclear polyhedrosis virus and Variola major were bad alone, imagine them combined with human rhino virus."

"No wonder the autopsies looked so nasty un."

"You catch any photos of them?"

"I had someone do it for me un. I couldn't get myself to go in there- it smelled horrible un."

"You ate lunch before you went to check out the autopsies."

It was a statement, rather than a question, but Deidara replied anyway, "Yeah. Not gonna make that mistake again un."

"You should've just waited for your lunch to digest- no reason to go ruin your appetite."

"True. Anyways, here's the memory card I got the pictures on." He held up a dark blue SD memory card that held up to 1000 pictures.

"Great. I think we're done with this stuff for today."

"Thank God, I'm not really a fan of hospitals un. No offense though. It just smells like death too much un."

"I get what you're saying Dei-chan. Sometimes the smell overwhelms me too. But that happens more when I've spent lots of time in the morgue."

"Alright, let's get outta here un." The two left Konoha General Hospital and headed back to their hotel.

Dr. Sasori Akasuna, a forensic pathologist hailing from Suna, shared an apartment with Deidara, a Special Agent for the F.B.I. hailing from Iwa. Their apartment was in Ame, the location of C.D.C. and F.B.I. headquarters. Strangely enough, they met at a Starbuck's halfway between the two headquarters. Even though their co-workers told them they could do better and didn't really approve of gay couples, the two started dating. Ever since the first time Sasori took Deidara out to dinner- even though it was intended as a friendly gesture- the two have been inseparable, constantly finding excuses to work together on cases.

The recent outbreak of an unknown disease has given the pair quite the opportunity to work together and has tested their knowledge and teamwork skills. On top of that, it has also tested their relationship, as the intense amount of stress has made both quite irritable- a side neither of them had previously seen in the other. Thanks to Sasori's vast knowledge of diseases and Deidara's research skills, identifying the disease has been quite east for the duo. However, finding evidence to lead them to the culprit- the disease's creator- has been quite difficult since the culprit seems to be skilled at not leaving any traces of DNA or anything that could otherwise identify them as the creator of the disease.


	3. Chapter 2: Evidence

Ok, here goes the next chapter. It's a bit shorter than the last, and I personally don't think it's as good................but oh well.

Chapter 2:

Evidence

Deidara looked through the girl's room for the seemingly hundredth time. He had a feeling he was missing something, he just didn't know what. He picked up one of those gum gags- the ones where when you pull the stick of gum out a plastic cockroach jumps on your hand. He looked it over, and then set it back down. He started looking around the room again, picking up trinket after trinket, and always setting them back down shaking his head.

Just then Sasori came into the room. "Find anything koi?" He asked, walking over to the blonde.

"Tons of trinkets un. But nothing that could cause someone to get sick un. You find anything out from the parents un?"

"Only that their daughter collects trinkets which she buys from the flea market."

"Maybe someone at the flea market can help us un."

"The Konoha flea market is huge koi. It'd take forever to find someone that could help us."

"Maybe she keeps a record of what she buys un."

"She'd keep something like that in one of her desk drawers."

Deidara went over to the desk and sifted through the drawers. Eventually he found what he was looking for. "Found it un."

"What does it say?"

"The last thing she bought was purchased the day before she died un. Three days before she died, she traded some postcards for a gum gag un."

Sasori picked up the trinket. "You mean this?"

"Yeah. Although I don't think that's very dangerous un."

"We'll see about that." The red-head put the trinket in an evidence bag.

"Bag up the prism too un."

"Why?"

"She bought it the day after she bought the gum gag un."

"Alright then." Sasori found said prism and bagged it as well. "Anything else?"

"I think that should be enough un. And we need to check out the stands she bought these things from un."

"That could take forever though."

"She wrote the stall numbers and the date on here un. Someone there can help us find the stalls un."

"That makes it easier."

"But we still don't have any leads on the culprit un."

"We'll just have to rely on them making a mistake to find them."

"Guess so un."

Sasori's cell phone decided to ring then, and the red-head was forced to answer it. After a bit of talking to whoever was on the other end, he said to Deidara, "We gotta go. Someone on the west side just died and they want me to do the autopsy."

"Alright. I think we've got enough stuff for now anyway un."

"You wanna come with me koi?"

"Only 'cause I don't wanna go to the flea market alone un."

Sasori laughed and took Deidara's hand. "Let's go then." The pair left the house, thanking the parents on the way out.


	4. Chapter 3: Adventures During an Autopsy

A/N: I know it's been awhile........I had a lotta homework/projects to do. For those who waited though, I present you with a super-long chapter. Oh, and please tell me if you think the rating should go up, because I'm not sure with this chapter.....................

Warning: contains content that isn't very pleasant.

Chapter 3:

Adventures During an Autopsy

The small hospital on the west side of Konoha is the most run-down of all 5 hospitals in the city. It probably doesn't help that the hospital is located in the poorer area of the city, among abandoned buildings and houses. Homeless line the streets here, and as Sasori and Deidara made their way to the hospital, they couldn't help but notice these people who held signs asking for money and promising they would only use it to buy food. Deidara clung to Sasori- a little afraid one of them would come after him because he was easily mistaken as a girl.

When they finally made it to the hospital, they asked a nurse to show them to the morgue. She showed them the way, and bid them good luck with the autopsy. The pair entered the morgue and was greeted with the scent of the dead. Deidara covered his nose, not wanting to inhale putrid scent. They went into a small office first, to meet with the others who would be working on the autopsy.

The cramped office consisted of plain white walls and white tile floors. The light grey desk in the middle of the space had a computer monitor on top and papers strewn across the rest of the top. A green office chair sat behind the desk, standing out the most. Along the wall housing the door were a few filing cabinets. On the wall to the left, was a map of Konoha covered in pins and hanging below it was a legend for the pin colors.

Sasori and Deidara were studying the map when the three others that would be working on the autopsy entered the office. One had long black hair tied back in a ponytail and matching black eyes. The guy behind him had spiky blue hair and tiny white eyes whose skin happened to be blue with little gill-like tattoos- well, hopefully those were tattoos. The last guy had silver slicked back hair and pink eyes. He also wore a necklace with a strange talisman on it- a circle surrounding an upside down triangle.

The black-haired man was the first to speak. "Itachi Uchiha, Chief Medical Examiner of Konoha," He declared- his voice a bit deep and coming across as almost emotionless. "These are my colleagues."

"Kisame Hoshigaki, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner." The blue-haired man continued, smiling wide and showing off his filed teeth.

"Hidan," The albino-like man finished, then added, "I'll be the fucking attendant on this one, although every fucker here knows I'd prefer to be the damn prosector."

"And we really don't want you to damage the corpses any further." Itachi scolded. "Anyway, you must be the famous Dr. Sasori Akasuna."

"That would be correct." Sasori replied.

"And your friend is?"

"Deidara. He's a Special Agent in the F.B.I. from Iwa."

"Will he be watching the autopsy?"

"No, he doesn't particularly like watching them."

"Then he probably shouldn't be in here- you can smell the autopsies even in this little office."

"Of course. Would it be too much trouble if I just meet you in the Pit in a few minutes?"

"Not at all. But do hurry- we don't want the remains to go bad." With that, Itachi, Kisame, and Hidan left the small office and headed down to the Pit.

"Looks like I'll have to find a way to entertain myself after all un." Deidara commented.

"Well, it's not like you were gonna go down to the Pit anyway koi."

"I know. Good luck with the autopsy un." Deidara kissed Sasori briefly before both men departed the office, one heading back out to the main part of the hospital, the other down to the Pit.

Down in the Pit, Itachi, Kisame, and Hidan had already taken out the body, which was in a white bag, and were over in a small room suiting up. Sasori joined them and put on a fresh surgical scrub, followed by a surgical gown and a plastic waterproof apron. He then put on surgical covers over his shoes and covered his red hair with a surgical cap. Over his nose and mouth he put a disposable button mask, plastic safety glasses over his eyes, and rubber gloves on his hands.

"You wanna be prosector Dr. Akasuna?" Itachi asked, grabbing a chainmail glove.

"Uh, sure. I really just came to be a diener, but I suppose I could be the prosector." Sasori replied.

"Don't tell me you've never been a prosector before."

"It's not that, I just haven't been prosector in an autopsy in awhile."

"Well, now you can be." Itachi handed Sasori the chainmail glove, which Sasori fitted over his left hand, since most accidental cuts occur on the nondominant hand.

Over their rubber gloves, they put dishwashing gloves. Then the four of them proceeded into the Pit. At the moment, no one else was in the Pit except for them and the body. This would probably be a very lonely autopsy, unless others came down as they worked.

The four surrounded the autopsy table next to which the body lay, now apparent that it was still on a gurney. Hidan unzipped the white bag a little, revealing the face. He quickly unzipped it all the way and, with the help of Kisame, lifted it onto the table. Hidan then pushed the gurney out of the way.

It was almost as if luck was on Sasori's side- the patient was a young girl, aged at about 17. She wore a pale blue hospital gown, which, upon closer inspection was actually checked pale blue and white. Her eyes had been closed and the eyelids were puffy. Blood streamed from her nose all the way down to the hollow of her throat where it looked as if someone had tried to wash her. Her teeth were stained with dried blood and still biting down on her lower lip. Her hair was a golden blonde color, not very different from the color of Deidara's hair. Both ears were pierced and bore two little blue hoop earrings.

"Her name is Ino Yamanaka." Itachi stated.

Kisame grabbed a manila folder containing the investigator's report. "Apparently she collapsed in class. She attended West Konoha High like that Aki girl. She had grand mal seizures, eating her lips, had a heavy nosebleed, and went into a hard tonic seizure in the end. It's a lot like what's been happening to these other people." Kisame explained as he read from the report. "When she came in here, she was D.O.A."

"So we've heard of what, five cases of this disease since last week? Each person is unique- the cases range from homeless people to well-to-do. There isn't an obvious connection."

"Well, other than they seem to be dying in the same essential way." Sasori commented.

"True. Anyway, they didn't do any tests over in the E.R., just pronounced her dead."

"Great. No blood and spinal workup. Just what we need to hear."

Hidan took off the hospital gown on Ino's body. She was young, as could be told by her fairly small breasts. Sasori guessed they were about a 42 C in bra size, but what did he know? Just based on looks, he likened her to be Deidara's younger sister, if he were to have one. Sasori took out a steel knife from the provided prosection pack, having left his own in the apartment he and Deidara were renting while this outbreak went on.

Hidan rinsed off the girl's body with running water. Kisame went and got the photographer's camera, the photographer obviously being on break. He took a few shots of Ino, then put the camera on an empty autopsy table nearby. Then he proceeded to do an external examination.

He began by examining her skin in the fluorescent light. Then he parted her legs to examine her genitalia. He saw a string and pulled on it, bringing a tampon into the light. He grimaced upon realizing the girl had been on her menstrual period and put it aside quickly.

"Oi, look at the bitch's nose Kisame. There's fucking shitloads mucus." Hidan called out suddenly.

Sure enough, along with the blood was a fair amount of mucus. "Ugh, must be a cadaver cold or something." Kisame replied.

While Hidan and Kisame discussed cadaver colds, Sasori took it upon himself to investigate the girl's mouth. He pulled the tongue out part way with the help of forceps and looked. There was plenty of blood in the mouth. Her lips and tongue had bite marks on them. The inside of the mouth was, with close inspection, covered in blood blisters.

Sasori then proceeded on to examine her eyes. He gently pulled back her eyelids with smaller forceps. The inside of the eyelid had small red dots, an obvious sign of inflammation of the conjunctiva. Looking at the eye, he saw what seemed to be a yellow-colored pupillary ring with flame-like offshoots that extended into the blue-gray irises. That definitely wasn't normal, and he had seen similar papillary rings in other cases' eyes.

Hidan and Kisame had finally stopped arguing. "Hey, there's blood blisters in her nose." Kisame commented as he examined her nose with an exam light.

"There're more of those in her mouth." Sasori replied. "I'm seeing a lot of things I saw in other cases."

"So we got a similar disease going on here."

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure it's a genetically engineered disease. From what I've seen, I'm pretty sure it's a combination of human rhino virus, Variola major, and a strain of nuclear polyhedrosis virus."

"Damn. That's one helluva monster."

"Hell yeah. Whatever heathen's releasing this shit sure must hate fucking humanity." Hidan added.

"Definitely."

"Are we just gonna talk all day, or are we gonna cut this corpse up?" Sasori asked, impatient to get the autopsy over with.

"Right, right." Kisame replied, as Hidan prepared a fresh scapel.

Sasori took the scapel and made a Y shaped cut from each shoulder of the girl to her sternum, at the top of her abdomen, then down to the pubic bones of the pelvis. A strong scent of feces filled the Pit, and yellow body fat was visible from the gaping skin. He cut away fat and tissue, to clear out the chest. He laid back the skin of the chest onto the girl's face. Hidan handed him a pair of lopping shears and he cut the ribs in order to remove the chest plate.

From there, he gently removed the lungs, which he handed to Kisame to get samples of them. He then delicately removed the heart, which he also handed to Kisame for sampling. Hidan gave him a syringe for a blood-culture, which was used with blood drawn from the femoral vein near the groin area. Sasori moved down to the abdomen, where he withdrew the small intestine, which he put in the wash tank at the end of the autopsy table. He then removed the liver, which looked perfectly normal.

While Sasori was busy removing organs, Kisame was busy cutting small samples for stock jars, which would be sent to the histology lab, and toxicology containers, which would be sent to the toxicology lab. Hidan had the task of washing out the bowels and small intestine, which was never a fun job. Sasori had it worst off, however, as currently he was pulling out the pelvic organs and making a face at the squelching sounds they were making. Once the pelvic organs- the bladder, the rectum, the uterus, the ovaries, and the vagina, along with the kidneys- were out, he handed them to Kisame for sampling. The red-head's least favorite part of an autopsy was removing the pelvic organs, especially in a man.

Hidan put an H-shaped rubber head block under the girl's head and moved her chest skin out of the way. Sasori walked over to where her head was and made an ear-to-ear coronal incision. He then pulled both parts of the scalp away, revealing the girl's skull. Hidan grabbed a Stryker saw, plugged it in, and went to work cutting the skull. He then chiseled the skull so that he could remove the calvarnium. That exposed the gray dura mater, the membrane surrounding the brain.

Using blunt scissors, Sasori cut the dura mater and pulled it away. The brain was a swollen pearlescent lump with flattened folds, all of which was abnormal. The brain looked as if it had exploded and busted against the inside of the skull. Upon touching it, he found it to be unusually soft, as if it was partially liquefied. He knew then that removing the brain would have to be done carefully, because it felt as if it could fall apart.

He gently pushed his fingers past the frontal lobes of the brain, and pulled it back slightly. He then carefully reached in with the scapel and cut the optic nerves, working entirely by sense of touch. He pulled the brain backward until he had gained access to the spinal cord. He used an angled slice to cut the spinal cord, causing the brain to fall into his hands. The brain was oddly heavy, as if it was filled with fluid.

He placed the brain on the cutting board and it spread out under its own weight like a blob. He noticed tiny red spots, much like the spots a person gets on their skin when they have the measles. He saw deep grooves in the underside of the brain- a sign of rupture of the brain, which could have caused a blood pressure spike, which in turn could explain the nose bleed. He decided to section the brain- however, as he cut it, it became a sloppy mess. He saw small weeping hemorrhages in the brain, which were caused by the tearing and crushing of brain structures. Kisame and Hidan carefully moved globs of brain into a stock jar, and some other globs into a toxicology container.

Just then, Deidara returned from his exploration of the hospital, already sick of waiting for the autopsy to be done. Sasori looked up from the work as Deidara stopped at the entrance to the Pit, his hand covering his nose and mouth. In the same moment, something seemed to snap inside of Kisame and his nose started running. He removed the button mask he wore and tossed it aside and his sharpened teeth began chewing away at his lips. Sasori realized what was happening to the shark-like man and moved away from him.

A jacksonian twitch rippled across Kisame's face and he grabbed the prosector's knife from the autopsy table, pointing it at Deidara. The blonde backed away slowly, scared for his own life, and for that of his lover. Both Itachi and Sasori backed away now, each holding something to protect themselves. Hidan tapped Kisame on the shoulder, causing the man to turn and face the albino.

"Chill out Kisame, just fucking chill out." Hidan said calmly.

Something about Hidan's words angered Kisame. "Why don't you?" He asked in response.

Hidan took a deep breath. "There, I fucking chilled out. Now you fucking chill out."

Kisame's face contorted into a grimace. The hand holding the knife rose up. Hidan's face didn't show a sign of fear as the knife went through his neck, nearly beheading him. He fell to the ground and an arterial jet hit the ceiling. Deidara held back a scream- however, the albino wasn't dead.

Kisame looked at Hidan, then around the room, his neck and back moving in the rhythm of basal writhing. He went over to the supply table and put together a scapel- a sterile blade and handle. He pushed the scapel into a point just above his left ear and drew it across his scalp to his right ear in a coronal incision. He then jabbed the blade into his thigh muscle. He reached up and firmly gripped the front flap of scalp and pulled down sharply, a ripping sound resonating throughout the room.

He pulled his scalp off his skull, turning it inside out. He continued down so that his face began to come off and his eyes sagged. His scalp was inside out, and the visible part was like a slippery red blanket. He screamed as he began to eat his scalp. There was no seizure at the end.


	5. Chapter 4: Amegakure

A/N: This chapter is a bit of a filler, but it'll explain some later occurences. Enjoy!

Chapter 4:

Amegakure

Kanon was a woman with good looks, but not a good kunoichi. She was skilled in the sciences, but companies then wanted kunoichi scientists. She got a degree from the National College in Ame, but couldn't get a job. That is, until Orochimaru offered her a position at BioArk.

She had gratefully taken the job for she was running out of money. She didn't care what Oto used the viruses she helped make for. But then Orochimaru got mad at her pace of research for the ultimate virus. In his stupidity, he killed Kanon's family. She moved her operations to Konoha until she was done with research, then quit her job, taking BioArk's best bioreactor with her.

Since quitting her job at BioArk- the Concern, as it was better known as- she bought a three-bedroom apartment in Konoha's west side. The apartment was run-down when she bought it, but she didn't care much. She had the wall knocked down between the spare bedrooms, calling the large room her workroom. The master bedroom, living/dining room, kitchen, and bathroom were used for living space.

The hallway leading to the bedrooms was used as a staging area. A hall closet contained biohazard suits newly imported from Oto. The door to her workroom was replaced with a sliding door. The other door opened to a little room for bleaching suits and throwing them away. The windows in the workroom were covered with black construction paper so the virus wouldn't be affected by sunlight.

Kanon now entered the workroom, fully suited. She went over to a cabinet and withdrew a dish filled with the virus before it was put in the bioreactor. At a nearby table, she extracted some genes from the disease, then added in genes of another virus under a microscope. Then she put the contents of the dish into the bioreactor and pushed a few buttons.

She then left the room, bleaching her suit and pitching it on the way out. She proceeded into the kitchen and grabbed a mug from a cabinet. She filled it with water from the sink and headed it in the microwave. While she waited for the waster to heat, she took out a sandwich from the fridge.

The microwave announced the water was warm then, and Kanon was quick to take it out. She added a tea bag and a bit of sugar, stirring until the scalding water became a solution. She tasted the tea, and, upon finding it still bitter, added more sugar. Awhile and a half cup of sugar later, she was finally satisfied with the taste.

When she finished her meal, she returned to her workroom. By this time, the Biozan was busily outputting a liquid into a jar. Along with the liquid was white sludge- a concentrated portion of virus that settled at the bottom of the jar. After the bioreactor finished, she emptied the liquid from the jar, leaving only the virus.

She scooped out the white sludge from the jar into dishes. She put the dishes back in the cabinet, on a different shelf from the other dishes. She put more of the dishes into the bioreactor, listening to it hum like a fish tank. She once again left her workroom, this time going to her own room.

The walls in Kanon's room were covered from ceiling to floor with newspaper clippings attached to corkboards. Part of the wall was hidden by a bureau that had a wooden chair in front of it. A small bed with a grey quilt sat in the far right corner. Brown carpet covered the floor of the room, and a few ceiling lights glared at the plainness. Finally, there was a door leading to her walk-in closet she created by knocking out the wall between the master bedroom and one of the other two bedroom's closets- the door to the closet from the other bedroom was sealed to prevent the possible entry of virus particles.

She now sat in the chair before the bureau. From a drawer, she produced a notebook. She took out a mechanical pencil from a jar containing writing utensils and flipped to a fresh page in the notebook. She then wrote down everything she knew about the super virus she had just created.

The bus ride to the capital was never pleasant. Bumpy roads, detours due to road blocks, and other issues made the would-be 5 hour ride longer. At least a person could always look at the scenery. Kanon, however, was more interested in the people on the bus.

She loved connections. Bus routes, how the body works, etc. She also loved how different people reacted differently to the same thing. Like how at the mention of Ebola, some people freaked, while others said it would never spread to the cities. She believed Ebola would eventually make it to the cities naturally, but that the Concern would use it in their bioterror weapons anyway.

The tall trees surrounding the road suddenly gave way to a grey concrete wall. Rooftops of taller government buildings peeked out from the cover of the wall. The road had become smoother, as now it was cobble similar in color to the wall. The deep brown gates were made of a strong wood- as far as Kanon knew it was probably imported from another city.

The bus slowed to a stop at the eastern gate bus station. Everyone had to get off because the bus was going back to Konoha. Kanon went immediately into the crowded station. People's conversations were reduced to a jumble of sounds in her ears as she pulled out flesh colored surgical gloves and silently pulled them on. Then she held her breath and walked around the station, throwing pieces of what looked like plastic to the floor.

As soon as she was done, she made a beeline for the door. She got outside and took several gulps of air before she could return her breath to normal. She then removed her gloves and shoved them back into her pocket. Finally, she got back on the bus and took a seat. The bus rolled away from the now lethally hot station and headed back to Konoha.


End file.
